Walton v. Com., 971369

• Docket Nº: No. 971369
• Citation: 255 Va. 422, 497 S.E.2d 869
• Case Date: February 27, 1998
• Court: Supreme Court of Virginia

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497 S.E.2d 869 255 Va. 422 Eric Cooper WALTON
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record No. 971369. Supreme Court of Virginia. Feb. 27, 1998.

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[255 Va. 424] John H. Kennett, Jr., Roanoke, for appellant.

Leah A. Darron, Assistant Attorney General (Richard Cullen, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: CARRICO, C.J., COMPTON, LACY, HASSELL, KEENAN and KOONTZ, JJ., and STEPHENSON, Senior Justice.

STEPHENSON, Senior Justice.

The issues presented in this appeal are (1) whether the evidence is sufficient to convict the defendant of possession of marijuana and, if so, (2) whether the suspension of the defendant's driver's license pursuant to Code § 18.2-259.1 violates his constitutional right to due process.

I

On January 18, 1996, following a bench trial, the Circuit Court of the City of Salem convicted Eric Cooper Walton of possession of marijuana, in violation of Code § 18.2-

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250.1. The court sentenced Walton to 30 days in jail, with all but four days suspended, and fined him $200. Pursuant to Code § 18.2-259.1, Walton's privilege to operate a motor vehicle was suspended for a period of six months. ¹

Walton appealed the judgment of conviction and the license suspension to the Court of Appeals, presenting, inter alia, the two issues presented here. The Court of Appeals denied the appeal challenging the sufficiency of the evidence of possession of marijuana, but awarded the appeal challenging the license suspension. Thereafter, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's suspension of Walton's operator's license. Walton v. Commonwealth, 24 Va.App. 757, 485 S.E.2d 641 (1997). We awarded Walton this appeal on both issues.

255 Va. 425

II

On September 12, 1995, in the City of Salem, Detective W.W. Young executed a search warrant at the mobile home of Walton and his wife. The warrant authorized a search for marijuana and all items associated with its use and cultivation.

Young found a large marijuana plant growing in a small flower bed immediately adjacent to the steps to the door of the home. Unlike all other plants in the bed, the marijuana plant recently had been watered. Young also found a large metal tray under a couch in Walton's living room. The tray contained a set of hemostats, a package of rolling papers, and a small quantity of plant material. A subsequent laboratory analysis proved that the plant material was .02 of an ounce of marijuana, "enough to make a cigarette."

During the search, Walton volunteered several statements to Detective Young. Walton stated that he was not a drug dealer; rather, he was "just a guy who smokes a little marijuana and works hard for a living." Walton also told Young that he had planted the flower bed but that he could not account for the planting of the marijuana. While the detective was searching through a package of cigarettes that had been on the metal tray, Walton said, "[t]here's no joints in there. I smoked the last one just before you got [here]."

At trial, Walton testified that he had been smoking marijuana since 1969. He said that, at times, friends would come to his home and smoke marijuana with him. The friends would bring their own marijuana and take with them the remainder. He stated that, "every time [he] rolled marijuana into cigarettes, [he] either used [the metal] tray or a newspaper or a magazine or whatever," and then he threw the residue in the trash.

Walton further testified that he never had grown marijuana, he did not know what marijuana plants looked like, and he did not know that the large plant in the flower bed was marijuana. He conceded that he previously had been convicted of two felonies and of two or three misdemeanors involving moral turpitude.

III

First, we determine whether the evidence is sufficient to support the trial court's finding that Walton knowingly or intentionally possessed marijuana. When the sufficiency of the evidence in a criminal case is challenged on appeal, we must view the evidence and all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom in the light [255 Va. 426] most favorable to the Commonwealth. Dukes v. Commonwealth, 227 Va. 119, 122, 313 S.E.2d 382, 383 (1984). Great deference must be given to the factfinder who, having seen and heard the witnesses, assesses their credibility and weighs their testimony. Saunders v. Commonwealth, 242 Va. 107, 113, 406 S.E.2d 39, 42, cert. denied, 502 U.S. 944, 112 S.Ct. 386, 116 L.Ed.2d 337 (1991). Thus, a trial court's judgment will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to...